Anime Occult Academy

[Neptune]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]I just finished this amazing anime series and wanted to see if there were any other fans of the show on these here boards.

The first couple of episodes of the show are great, but then the next few seem like filler. [spoiler]By episode 11, the show completely changes everything you thought you had already figured out.[/spoiler] I don't want to go into too much detail yet in case other people need to watch the series, but it really is fantastic and worth at least one watch. The visuals are beautiful and the story is woven together really well. Here is a synopsis of the show, taken from Wikipedia, and spoiler-tagged because it gives away just a few plot details:

"[spoiler]The story revolves around Maya, the daughter of the former Headmaster of Waldstein Academy, and a time traveling agent Fumiaki Uchida. In the year 2012, the world had been invaded by aliens and time travelers were sent back to the year 1999 in order to find and destroy the Nostradamus Key, which Nostradamus Prophecy foretold as what would bring about the apocalypse. The series then turns to the year 1999, where Maya returns to the Academy with the intention of destroying the Academy by superseding her late father's position as the principal. Her plan was interrupted when she meets Fumiaki and learns of the forthcoming destruction. Despite being distrusting towards Fumiaki, they form a pact to look for the Nostradamus Key.

In order to find the Nostradamus Key, time agents were provided with specially created cell phones. When a user finds an object of interest, by thinking of destroying it and taking a photo, and if the resulting image is that of a peaceful world, then the subject is the Nostradamus Key. Conversely, if the subject is not the Nostradamus Key, then the photo displays destruction. By using the phone, Maya and Fumiaki investigates occult occurrences as they occur in the town.[/spoiler]"

Seriously, watch this, then let's discuss.[/font]

[Shinmaru]

I enjoyed it. Some people weren't fond of how everything changes so much in the final few episodes, but the crazier the show got, the more I enjoyed it. Come on, [spoiler]good and evil magical girls, and magical flying panthers[/spoiler]? Who wouldn't enjoy that?

[Pleiades Rising]

I've started this a couple of days ago, and right now I'm on ep. 4. So far so good. Actually, I had no idea what to expect when I picked this series up, which is what I usually do. However, now that I have a clearer idea (at least, for now) of what's going on, I think it's a decent series so far. I read the earlier comment (but not the spoilers) and they mention how things get a tad nutty later on, but I'm kinda looking forward to it. I mean, it's already kinda nutty this early on, and it's enjoyable (I like the crazy piano music during the previews, haha). It has the right level of humor, and thankfully no character has annoyed me in the first 5 minutes of the first episode! I'm patiently waiting to see how some of the other characters figure into the plot, without straining the it by focusing on too many side stories. That said, I'll hold further comment until I've got well-into the series.

[Kei]

[quote name='Pleiades Rising' timestamp='1309752585' post='708259']
(I like the crazy piano music during the previews, haha).
[/quote]

[font="Tahoma"][color="#000080"]That's actually part of the Waldstein Sonata by Beethoven. Trufax.

Anyway, Occult Academy is a nice little widget series. There's a wham episode in there, but overall, it's just a lot of fun so long as you don't take it seriously (since it barely takes [i]itself [/i]seriously). Maya's kind of my hero, in a way, though. I wish I could get away with punching people in the face half as much as she does.[/color][/font]

[Pleiades Rising]

Really? I never heard it before, so I'll have to find it and play it all the time, haha. Thanks!

Let's see, I'm on ep.10 (or was it 11?), and it's full steam ahead with nothing earth shattering. It's still delivering the goods that they served in the first episode. Of course, there's some little touches here and there that resonate with me and make me smile, e.g. the reference to Antoine de Saint Exupery's classic [i]The Little Prince[/i] made the little inquisitive kid in me beam! There's some other stuff too that made me realize how much of an occult aficionado I was waaaay back then: [spoiler]I knew that was a Chupacabra before they even said anything. Also, I recognize that old school UFO design, but I can't remember the specific case it's based on.[/spoiler] I kinda expect Aleister Crowley to come flying in on Cthulhu at some point, haha. All in all, it's still pretty fun so far, and like Kei said it's not really meant to be taken too seriously.

...unless you believe in that kind of stuff.